Elle Osborne - Good Grief

The latest recording from Elle Osborne is ’Good Grief’, a 4 track EP of original material, released on Folk Police Recordings.

Elle provides vocals, cello and violin while Scott Smith plays harmonica and lap steel. Opening with a burst of birdsong and swelling strings, ’The Icehouse’ is a deeply atmospheric piece, with Osborne’s vocals being very effective here.

Sound effects are again used well in ’The Boatman’ with the listener being carried away by the gentle lapping of the water.

The highlight of ’Good Grief’ is ’Wise eyes wide’, in which Osborne spins an acutely observed and heartbreaking tale of loss and the inability to let go, with old emotions bursting out of a photograph.

The EP is completed with the more traditional sound of ’The Time of the Small Sun’, a complex and engaging story of a wandering, troubled prince.

’Good Grief’ is a well balanced and rewarding collection of material, with a lot of depth and as such will benefit from repeat listening.

An excellent and unusual EP that will raise much anticipation for Elle Osborne’s upcoming full album ’And Slowly Slowly Got She Up’ due for release in spring 2011.